Swansea City are hopeful of increasing the capacity at their home ground the Liberty Stadium to 32,000.
The Welsh club have been in the top flight since winning promotion from the Championship in 2011 and regularly sell out their 20,520-seat home.
As such, chairman Huw Jenkins confirmed at a fans forum on Thursday that planning permission had been submitted to increase that to 32,000.
If approved, the first stage will see 6,000 extra seats added to the stadium s east stand.
Planning permission has gone in to take the stadium up to 32,000 seats, Jenkins said.
The first phase has been redesigned recently. It is the East Stand. Initially that was going to be 4,000 extra seats, now it is going to be 6,000 taking us up to 27,500 seats.
Ther…
Jonathan Mensah says Ghana will be ready for a United States backlash after beating them in the previous two FIFA World Cups.
The African nation have prevailed 2-1 against the States in the previous two editions, eliminating them in the group stage in 2006 and the last 16 four years ago.
Mensah is expecting their opponents to be keen on revenge when they open their Group G campaign and is aware they must be at the top of their game if they want to start the competition in positive fashion.
It s going to be like a revenge (match) for the United States, he said. Because we beat the USA in 2006 and we beat them in 2010.
And once again we re playing them in the first game.
For the first game of the competition, everybody is focused and nervous, so it s going to…
Borussia Monchengadbach forward Raffael has extended his contract with the club until 2019.
The 31-year-old s deal had been due to expire in 2017, but he has now reached an agreement to stay with the Bundesliga outfit for another year.
Raffael moved to Borussia Park in 2013 from Dynamo Kiev, and has netted 44 goals in 116 appearances in all competitions since then.
has extended his contract at by one year until 2019!
— Gladbach (@borussia_en)
Last season, the Brazilian supplied 13 strikes and 10 assists in 31 league outings. Only Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Thomas Muller had a hand in more Bundesliga goals across the campaign.
In a statement announcing the new contract on Gladbach s officia…
Former Marseille defender Basile Boli has criticised Zlatan Ibrahomovic for showing no respect towards Paris Saint-Germain s stars of yesteryear.
Boli was appointed as sports coordinator at Marseille in the aftermath of Michel s suspension as head coach this week and saw his club secure a Coupe de France final berth against PSG courtesy of a 1-0 win over Sochaux on Wednesday.
Speaking after the match, the 49-year-old turned his scorn towards Ibrahimovic, who has referred to PSG as a new project since his own arrival in the wake the Qatar Sports Investment group takeover in 2012.
Although four consecutive Ligue 1 titles mark an unprecedented period of success for PSG, Boli believes Ibrahimovic is doing a disservice to the club responsible for some of his earliest …
Jordi Alba does not believe Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar will return to Barcelona amid speculation over a Camp Nou comeback.
Neymar left Barca for Ligue 1 champions PSG in a world-record transfer worth €222million in 2017, but the 26-year-old Brazil captain has been linked with a return to his former club.
Barca full-back Alba is aware of the reports, however, the Spain international is not convinced he will reunite with Neymar.
We don t talk about it, Alba told Sport when asked about the Neymar rumours. At the end of the day, it s what people are saying outside [the club]. But I don t think it is true.
Neymar s a tremendous player, one of the best, but he decided to go and I don t see much logic in him wanting to come back. I don t believe it.
…
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Desperate to build off of their surprise victory over Manchester City in midweek, Newcastle will travel to Wembley on Saturday lunchtime.
Tottenham
Starting with the hosts, although Mauricio Pochettino still might be unable to call upon the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Spurs managed to pull off another late comeback on Wednesday night. Coming from behind to pick up consecutive 2-1 wins over Watford and Fulham in their last two Premier League outings, Tottenham will need to put their Cup misery behind them and focus on securing a top-four finish. With the chance to briefly leapfrog Manchester City to second spot in the table, Pochettino will be looking for the returning Son Heung-m…
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has said the standard of refereeing in the Premier League “hasn’t been good enough” this season.
Kompany was sent off during Saturday’s 2-2 draw away to Chelsea for his protests against a penalty decision which also led to defender Lorenz Assignon seeing red, the latest in a string of incidents Kompany believes have gone against the relegation-battling Clarets.
Kompany said he spoke to referee Darren England after Saturday’s match to apologise for his choice of words at the time, and he has also had a number of discussions with referees’ chief Howard Webb, but on Monday he was clear he felt standards have dropped this term.
A story you couldn t have scripted as we fought to share the spoils
— Burnley FC (@Burnle…
An investment group from the Czech Republic has bought a 27 per cent stake in West Ham.
Businessman Daniel Kretinsky, the co-owner of Sparta Prague, and his colleague Pavel Horsky will also be appointed to the Premier League club s board following the deal.
West Ham said in a statement: The agreement is a further improvement to the club s capital structure which will initially enable the reduction of its long-term debt and the ability to continue to direct funds generated into other key areas of focus, continuing the positive progress made at West Ham United in recent years.
Kretinsky, who watched West Ham beat Liverpool 3-2 last weekend at London Stadium, said: I am passionate about football. I greatly appreciate and respect the exceptional history and traditio…
The New York Giants were given a hero s welcome as they paraded the Super Bowl trophy around New York City on Tuesday.
Quarterback Eli Manning led the Giants to their fourth Super Bowl crown on Sunday as they defeated the New England Patriots 21-17, with the 31-year-old star earning his second MVP award in the championship game.
Manning earned his first Super Bowl MVP nod in 2008, when he again powered them to victory over the Patriots.
Around one million adoring fans greeted the team as they moved from South Manhattan to City Hall, with Manning a favourite among the Giants faithful.
When asked who his favourite player was, Giants fan Dan Faith who revealed he had been waiting since 4:30am for a glimpse of his heroes left no doubt.
Eli Manning,…
Mikel Arteta savoured a “big, big performance” after Arsenal reclaimed top spot in the Premier League by ending Brighton’s impressive home form with a thumping 3-0 victory.
The title-chasing Gunners arrived at the Amex Stadium having dropped to third place in the table following Manchester City’s 4-2 success at Crystal Palace in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
Bukayo Saka set Arteta’s men on course to return to the summit by converting a 33rd-minute penalty before second-half goals from Kai Havertz and substitute Leandro Trossard completed a comprehensive win.
The result – Albion’s first top-flight home loss in more than seven months – puts Arsenal a point ahead of both Liverpool, who play their game in hand at rivals Manchester United on Sunday,…